One

You could say that we are one, or you could say that we are nine.

The fact is, we could be either depending on how you look at it.

I like to think we are both :)

Recently, Ju and I technically turned, 9. That is, we've been together for 9 years. That's almost a decade!! That's right, for those that know how to do their math well (I was abysmal at it in high school and was almost failing!! So my parents carted me off to the only tuition I ever did, before I did serious numerical damage before I entered my senior high years!! I ended up coming 2nd in my grade :p ) it means we met at the oh-so-cultivated and sophisticated age of 17. This was our first ever photo of each other (I thought LONG and HARD before I decided I should post it up because we look so awfully AWFUL!! I swear, I do not look anything like that now, that there is no inch of treelikeness about my hair anymore, and that I wear less scariness in my shades of lipstick. PROMISE):

I guess the more important event though, was when our 9 year anniversary was TRUMPED by our very very recent celebration of being one! It doesn't happen often that we get to celebrate being YOUNGER, so when we turned one, we clinked wine glasses to our very own 365 days of being married in style :D It was the most relaxing weekend I've ever had in what has seemed like YEARS, thanks to Ju who decided to pamper and spoil his crazy and at times erratic wife.

Here is another VERY flattering photo of us from the weekend. I look like a dead statue :p But I promise I am nothing like that in real life (except if I haven't slept :p ). Plus I hate showing my teeth. I have one very crooked snag of ivory (although people say they can't notice - maybe they're being nice!!) which makes me feel a little less pretty on some days. But I am thankful that my teeth weren't what they used to be when I was 14. I looked like dracula then. Thank God for braces.

And here is our attempt at something creative (attempt is the key word because obviously we so succeeded :p) with our point and shoot camera:

Happy 1 year Ju! I know I didn't get you a card (I loved yours! Please don't stop buying me cards!!), but I hope a blog post and my present makes up a little :) Here's to many many more years of love and craziness ahead :) 143.

xx
Jen


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Okay, I am bummed like ANYTHING that I couldn't go to Jason Mraz last night, and I have just come out of a crazy travel period so I am tackling emails, and my godzilla-sized to do list today!!
So, crazy office woman mode is switching on...NOW!!

Bookworm

From the days where I was still donning a bang, and my hair was styled in what I love to term as 'the bowl cut', I was obsessed with the written word. It started when my primary school used to distribute book order forms. I'd run home, in nervous excitement, wanting to show my parents all the boxes I had ticked on the sheet of paper, not knowing whether they'd say yes to my ridiculously long list of literary wishes. Of course, they'd always say no to more than 90% of what I wanted in an attempt not to spoil me. But that didn't really matter - to get at least one yes was always a thrill to a little girl who treasured the smell of those new pages as they were quickly flipped through with her fingers. The joy really bubbled through and through when the book order lady came to each of our classes, calling out our names and holding out the bag which held what we had purchased a few weeks before. If there was anything my few dollars of pocket money ever went to as a child - it would be to add to the books sitting on my shelf.

My first crazy fixation was with the Baby Sitters Club, then it was with Enid Blyton as I followed those kids who climbed that tree which took them to the most amazing far away magical lands (I can still read this set with the same happiness and enjoyment as I did when I was a child), then as I was discovering and learning about the concept of love - Anne of Green Gables and I crossed paths and I was smitten with the red head who was strong willed, witty, sensitive, smart, romantic, and beautiful as she went through life looking for love and nurturing her passion for writing. Then as I grew up my curious mind chased after the brilliant and brave Nancy Drew as she solved the most exciting mysteries and crimes. I thought she was so cool, that it inspired me to try and write my own mystery thrillers. Try, was the key word :)

Since then, my tastes in literature have become more sparse due to work, but the plus side is that it has matured and grown to be a lot more varied as well. Authors such as David Eddings, Mary Higgins Clark, John Grisham, Nicholas Sparks, to name a few have made their place on my shelves.... but today, here is what I added:

I absolutely LOVE the twilight series. And no, as an objective person who has read a great variety of books, it isn't JUST for girls nor is it just for teenagers. Like the Harry Potter series, it appeals to a wide audience, and for very good reasons. Who doesn't love a tale of forbidden love between vampire and human? I love love love it!! Plus, its WAAAAAY better than its film adaptation. I bought this set below off Amazon at an amazing price (more than half the retail price!!) and it was finally delivered! :)


Of a slightly different kind of fiction literature is my love for really really good poetry. Over the years, none has impressed me more than this author - Charles Simic. He is strange, funny, dark, and insightful all at the same time. His is the kind of poetry you will need to read several times over to understand the meaning of the piece, but once you do, it hits you like a flood.


For a taste, here is one such example from Simic:

This Morning
Enter without knocking, hard-working ant.
I'm just sitting here mulling over
What to do this dark, overcast day?
It was a night of the radio turned down low,
Fitful sleep, vague, troubling dreams.
I woke up lovesick and confused.
I thought I heard Estella in the garden singing
And some bird answering her,
But it was the rain. Dark tree tops swaying
And whispering. "Come to me my desire,"
I said. And she came to me by and by,
Her breath smelling of mint, her tongue
Wetting my cheek, and then she vanished.
Slowly day came, a gray streak of daylight
To bathe my hands and face in.
Hours passed, and then you crawled
Under the door, and stopped before me.
You visit the same tailors the mourners do,
Mr. Ant. I like the silence between us,
The quiet--that holy state even the rain
Knows about. Listen to her begin to fall,
As if with eyes closed,
Muting each drop in her wild-beating heart.


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It has been a long long while since I've made the decision to add to my literature collection (I am fussy :p), but when I do at times like today, I am thrilled just the same as that little bookworm girl who sat in her primary school class waiting for her name to be called to collect her bag of purchases.

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For those waiting for another post with photos from a shoot, have a listen to my fave tracks this past week in the meantime to keep you warm :) :

where art thou??

I've been a TERRIBLE blogger, I know!! I'm soooooo sorry!

But this week has been so strangely insane in a myriad of ways. I've wanted to write as so much has been happening, but when you have a shoot almost everyday, and are averaging anywhere between 3 to 6 hours of sleep a night each of these nights, one would expect me to run to my bed and hug it tight every spare second I had, right? No, really. I don't remember a single anything apart from shooting, driving and sleeping this past week - it really has been that crazy! Oh wait, there was some eating and showering in between. Almost forgot :p

Anyhow, to give you a taste of what I have been up to of late and prove that I've not been a total slacker, here are some pwetty pictures of pwetty people that I have been snapping this past week! :)

I'll be back soon, I promise :) I've gotta run like speedy gonzalas now, and pack all my bags to be outta here in the next 50 minutes to catch a plane!!

Alia and Johan: Just Because

Mark Twain once wrote: "Love seems the swiftest, but it is the slowest of all growths. No man or woman really knows what perfect love is until they have been married a quarter of a century". It pointed my understanding that love should grow, deepen, and feel more as time soldiers past us. Sadly, in reality, what I have observed is quite the opposite. Alot of couples drift, they grow apart, they divorce, and in my opinion the saddest - they just fall out of love.

It is my most ardent belief that couples do not show they love one another enough. You know, in those special little ways. We often get so caught up with work, children, worries about money, worries about our careers, what we wear, how we look, how others see us, that we often forget or take for granted the person who stands by us through it all. That same person who watches us cry, who watches us pick up the pieces, who sees us when life is good, and also when life turns black. Because, well, they are always there.

And it's saddening because love is such a beautiful thing. It starts off with a million and one fireworks that explode in a cascade...a shower of colours, and a fire that would light the darkest corners. Sure, love matures, but does it necessarily have to fade into a routine of dry stagnancy? I sometimes wonder where that passion goes. The stubborn idealist inside of me refuses to believe that people become so lazy, or so selfishly caught up in themselves, that they forget the little ways they used to extend their heart out to their loved one. You know, surprise notes. Gifts for no reason. Calls just to say 'I miss you'... Then I meet couples like Alia and Johan and their love and adoration for each other seems so ardently apparent and visible, that it really warms your heart to be allowed witness of it. And I am reminded that the idealist inside of me isn't really stupid or naive after all.

I remember remarking to the couple during our "just because" session together (they were already married when I shot them!), saying that I just LOVED the fact that they were not shy or embarrased to show their affection towards each other. To which Johan confidently and proudly replied "It's the way of the French" :) I believe him. But really, I think it is just that they are THAT much in love :) You could see it in the way they looked at each other. The way they held each other's hand. The way that they just are.

Their session brought me back to my roots, and roped me back to why I fell in love with photography in the first place - being able to capture the essence of a couple's love for one another. As a photographer, we sometimes get so consumed by having to be (or pressured to be in my case) so perfectly and artistically creative (which is important) or getting the craziest most abstract angles that we often get lost and forget that the real soul of taking the kind of photos we take, is to bring out the spirit of who two people are together and what they mean to each other, to the frame. It is about capturing love. It is about capturing a soul. It is about bringing to surface what makes them, them. That, to me, is what a real photo is, in our kind of photography-line. To photographers out there reading this, remember that, in the crazy tidal waves of industry pressure to be this or that with your style :)

Thank you for an awesome time together Alia and Johan! I had a real blast. Thank you for being completely yourselves and showing how much you mean to each other. My camera loved you back for it :) I only hope I meet more couples like yourselves in the future, and that in a quarter of a century, you will be more crazily in love than you already are :)

Here are my favourite shots from their session!

*Edit* To those who have asked/emailed/messaged - the locations I shot in for this shoot were Sentul Park, and Carcosa :) And yes, Johan and Alia have great fashion sense! :)

Here's one of those very RARE wide shots I will take.




And here is their slideshow!! :) I put a different kind of melody to their photos because I thought it suited their fun personalities :) Enjoy!

Tomorrow

No, I haven't disappeared.

As usual, life gets the better of oneself and tends to overrun ALL your time. Before you know it, another whole week has passed you by! The good news is, I got to exercise this week :) And managed to hit a few rounds of balls on the tennis court! Ju said, I didn't totally suck at it, so that was really cool! woot! :D

Anyway, to keep this blog active (!!), here's what I am planning to put up tomorrow!

And for those whose ears have been itching to hear some great audio bites, I thought I'd share my 'faves' playlist of this week.
Enjoy! Catch you all tomorrow!

ps: To those who are still awaiting the video capture of my post production snippet, I'm really sorry! I haven't forgotten! But I've tried every possible means that I know of to upload the video - only to find out that the quality of the video is so bad that it makes the photo I work on look awful and not sharp! Help??

David and Dorothy: Engagement

WOW, what felt like just yesterday was last sunday.

As I peered over to my clock moments ago, I realized that it was already friday! How DID it get to this point of the week so fast? Where DOES all the time go?? Is there a black hole that time gets sucked into, that is oblivious to us humans?? :p If I am not careful, I'll be 50, old, fat (gosh, I hope not!) and won't even realize it! :p

Anyhow, I thought I'd better post some photos here, before this week officially bulldozes past me in sprint-like fashion :)

Meet David and Dorothy! Who came from Singapore for their pre-wedding/engagement and rocked a session with me in KL and Malaccca! This was all done in 1 day people! Yes, thats right, 2 states in a day :) We're craaaaazy, I tell ya! :p

Here were my fave shots from our time together! Thank you David and Dorothy for gracing your awesome faces and personalities for my camera :) You were both fabulous!

We struck gold, in the morning. There was some rock-a-licious light waiting for us! We all know what KL is like... polluted, grey, polluted, grey. You get the idea :p So, my eyes were doign the whole cheerleader dancing thing, when I saw this light :) It's rare I tell ya!




More of that delish light! Mmmmm :D


Yummo flare!!


Off to do something a little more urban :) I love ghetto spots!


There's that new post processing that is slowly making itself comfortable in some of my photos :)


Dorothy looks stunning, no? yes? That was a rhetorical question by the way :)


Something a little more fashion-y. I love fashion shots, and will always try to attempt it, if the stars alight for the shot! :D




























Travel out of KL a little, and you will find that the weather totally clears and you get some beautiful light like we did in Malacca :)


Now, I've said it time and time again on this blog, I rarely EVER take wide shots. This is mostly because I love shooting up close. Getting right in there with my clients :) Its a really good indication of how I like to interact with whom I shoot. But now and again, I'll pull out that good ol' wide lens, and play around a bit. Just a bit :)






We were lucky. The last spot of the day was a beach in Malacca (after the original beach had been taken over for a makeover!!) that we found, JUST as the light was disappearing. We managed to get some shots in the last 2 or 3 mins before the light went :)


Dusk. Just moments after that previous shot.




One more wide shot to end with :)


Happy Friday everyone! Have a fabulous weekend! And Happy valentines day to everyone!! Not just those with partners. I believe if valentines day is about love, we can share this day with anyone we love. Parents. Friends. Siblings. Anyone :)